Vinay Kumar is a seam and swing bowler who relies more on legcutters, slower balls and accuracy, than on outright pace. Making his first-class debut in 2004-05, he quickly established himself by taking more than 20 wickets in each of his first three first-class seasons. Vinay soon added the inswinger to his repertoire, and his consistency earned him an IPL contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008. His first defining domestic season was in 2009-10, where he captured 46 wickets, besides mentoring his fast-bowling colleagues, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind, to lead Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy final for the first time in 11 years. Some good performances in IPL 2010 earned him a spot in India's squad for the World T20 in West Indies, but he has not been able to hold it down consistently. His most recent international appearance came in 2013.

The high point of Vinay's career came when he led Karnataka to a historic, unprecedented treble of domestic titles with the team winning the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Irani Cup for two successive seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Vinay's own contribution with the ball was noteworthy as he picked up 29 and 48 wickets respectively, but it did not lead to a national recall. Vinay finished as Karnataka's leading wicket-taker in the 2015-16 domestic season as well but the team failed to make the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy and could not add any other domestic title to their kitty. Vinay had an underwhelming IPL 2015, too, taking only seven wickets in 13 matches after Mumbai Indians acquired him from Kolkata Knight Riders. ESPNcricinfo staff

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